Plus500 Review (2.8)

Plus500 is a very famous broker that many beginners start with. It was actually the very first broker I placed my first trade at. They have been – and are still – very aggressive in their marketing.

In this article, we evaluate how them based on the following parameters and give them an overall grade at the end of the article.

Security

Product selection

Trading platform

Trading costs

Charting package

Customer service

Demo account

Bonuses

About Plus500

Plus500 (also called +500) was founded by six University students from the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel in 2008. Plus500 was one of the first brokers to offer the so-called CFD contracts directly to private retail traders.

The company is registered in Israel, but have offices in England, Cyprus and Australia, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Security at Plus500

Plus500 operate with segregated accounts, which means that they hold customers’ money in separate bank accounts.

Plus500 are regulated under the Cyprus Securities Exchange and follow their rules. Therefore, up to 20,000 euros is secured in case Plus500 should go bankrupt. Of course, it is better than nothing, but compared to for example SpreadMarket and other trading platforms licensed in London under FCA, it is not very much.

“The serious daytrader should think one more time before he opens an account with Plus500.”

One positive thing about Plus500 is that you cannot experience a negative account balance. It’s always a good thing, especially for new daytraders, who may not have fully understood all the risks associated with high gearing and stop-losses.

Products at Plus500

Plus500 have a wide range of products:

Shares (most major shares)

Stock indices

Commodities

Forex

Options

This covers most of the markets, but unfortunately, there is no possibility of trading bonds such as the German “Bund” – 10-year German bonds. But for the usual daytrader, the need should have been covered.

Trading platform at Plus500

Plus500 offers a web-based platform – desktop and smartphone. The desktop platform itself does not seem to have been updated for a long time in regard to the design.

However, the platform on the smartphone is a lot nicer, but it is probably because it’s more recent. It is possible to choose Danish language, but there are relatively many inadequate translations which unfortunately gives a bad overall impression. It would have been useful for a thorough app instead.

Although the design is not very nice, the platform is relatively user-friendly and intuitive to use.

Trading costs at Plus500

The trading costs at Plus500 is a bit mixed. They are not particularly competitive on their spreads on index and forex, but on the other hand, their spread on oil is quite low.

We have found these spreads at 11 am in the morning.

DAX: 1.5 points

Dow Jones: 3 points

EURUSD: 1.2 points

EURGBP: 2.4 points

AUDJPY: 5 points

USDJPY: 1.5 points

GBPUSD: 2 points

Crude Oil: 3 points

Gold: 4 points

So, if you trade a lot of oil, it may be an advantage to be a Plus500 customer, but if you trade mostly index and forex, we would recommend finding another broker.

However, you should be aware that Plus500 act as a kind of online casino and do market making, which means that they take the other side of the customers’ trade.

The charting package as a work tool

The Plus500 charting package itself is said to be quite inadequate. Only a line graph and a candlestick chart can be selected. Even though most people use the candlestick chart, it is nice to have the ability to switch to a Renko graph, for example.

The time settings are also not very user-friendly, with only 1-minute graphs, 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 30 minutes graphs available for daytrading. It is not entirely enough in our opinion. We miss here a 2-minute and 10-minute grave.

Unfortunately, their range of indicators may also be said to be quite limited. There are 18 indicators, including the most known as RSI, MACD, and Stochastics. A modern platform should have a slightly wider range. But it is enough for the new daytrader.

However, entering a trade is fairly straightforward, it works by entering trades through the buy and sell buttons. There is also the possibility of attaching a trailing stop-loss to one’s trade, which is a nice feature. In addition, you have the option to buy a guaranteed stop-loss, but you will have to pay extra for it.

Customer service at Plus500

A big minus at Plus500 is their customer service.

They are available only by e-mail, meaning they are not accessible via any phone or online chat. It is certainly not reassuring to wait for a reply to email if you go run into problems with an open position or something else. It is always great to be able to speak with the broker’s trading desk. Therefore, it draws down in our review that you only have the opportunity to contact Plus500 via mail.

Plus500 demo account

Their demo account is unlimited. This means that you can practice as long as you want. Some brokers have a limitation and it may not be enough time for everyone to fully test the platform before going live. It is, therefore, a positive thing that the Plus500 has not set a time limit on their demo account.

Plus500 use bonus to attract new customers

Bonuses are a major part of their marketing strategy and advertisements are much advertised with “free money” at Plus500. We do not consider a bonus as a positive thing, as it is quite difficult to figure out exactly what it takes to realize the bonus and it will likely have a negative impact on many daytraders as they will be tempted to trade more than they should.

Overall rating of Plus500

Security – 3 points

Product range – 4 points

Trading platform – 2 points

Trading costs – 3 points

Charting package – 2 points

Customer service – 1 point.

Demo account – 5 points.

Bonus – 2 points.

Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 5.0

Plus500 is an okay broker for the new daytrader as they have unlimited use of a demo account as well as a large product range. It is also positive that you cannot lose more than the amount of one’s account. However, they have higher trading costs than the competitors, as well as a very inadequate charting package and poor customer service. They operate primarily as an online casino and registered and regulated in Cyprus, which draws down on the security front.

For the more serious daytrader we recommend a broker with lower spreads, higher security, and a better charting package.

>> You can sign up for Plus500 here <<

Disclaimer: We do not receive any payment for this review. All ratings and attitudes in this article are as objective as possible and are not produced in collaboration with the Plus500. Plus500 is neither advertiser nor sponsor at DaytraderLand.com. If you sign up for the Plus500 trading platform through the above affiliate link, the writer will receive a smaller commission from Plus 500 as part of their affiliate program.

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